November 2011

11/10/2011

As I wrote in my last post, most restaurants out here in the Bay Area seem to take the dining experience much more seriously than do most places I’ve been. Here, you’re not served gargantuan portions big enough for multiple meals. The menus are typically far more interesting and artistic than most others I've seen. Also, the servers at the places I’ve been seem to not only know the menus inside and out, they talk glowingly about each item as if they crafted them themselves.

Granted, the Bay Area has the distinct advantage of being a major harbor area on the coast of a hugely agricultural state, which means all the freshest ingredients are here in the proverbial back yard. There are also millions of people of virtually every nationality on the planet here, which certainly influences the collective palate. And, let's not forget that there's Big Money out here, too, which invariably raises the bar. But all those influences aside, it's still different out here. It's as much an attitude toward food as anything else.

I have to admit that I’m blown away by the prices most places charge out here. If you were to go to a decent restaurant and two of you ordered an appetizer, a couple entrees, a bottle of mid-level wine, a couple espressos and a dessert to share, your bill would easily top $150 with tip. It’s hard to digest, frankly.

I keep trying to accept the rationalizations that the ingredients here are as fresh as they get and everything is at a premium in the Bay Area (because everyone and their brother wants to live here). As the price of real estate goes, so go the menus.

Gulp.

Anyway, my last post delved into some of the Bay Area pizza places I feel are noteworthy. In this post, I’m highlighting restaurants at which the dining was truly fine, and from which I walked away thinking “wow … that was excellent.” That said, the following is a listing of the best Bay Area restaurants I’ve visited thus far. I’ve also included samples of their recent menus (each of which changes daily) and prices.

Canteen

Chris loves Canteen, so we went there for her birthday. Located close to Union Square, Canteen is a teeny-tiny place with a menu that’s equally diminutive but hugely creative and flavorful.

Canteen is so small that the closets in most of the places I’ve lived were bigger than the restaurant’s kitchen and the bathroom is located next door. Going there is like squeezing 20 of your friends into a buddy’s college apartment, but in this case the buddy’s cooking earned a Zagat rating or a Michelin star. Dining at Canteen is like restaurant performance art.

This restaurant’s name is an acronym for “senatus populesque romanus” (Latin for “the people and senate of Rome”). SPQR is another tiny place. It’s located on Fillmore St. in the Pacific Heights section of San Francisco, and as you’d imagine from its name, the place creates inventive Roman Italian food.

It’s cozy and creative. If you visit SPQR, be sure to sit at the kitchen bar and behold the young, tattooed kitchen crew as they go about their culinary choreography. It’s as amazing to watch as it is tasty to eat.

We visited this Oakland establishment prior to an SFJAZZ concert at the Paramount (Angelique Kidjo opened for Youssou N’Dour). Chris (a former Oakland resident) thinks the city gets a bad rap and suggests that Camino represents one of the finest attempts at the city moving away from the brink, so to speak. When you walk in the place, the first thing you’ll notice is that it’s wide open and inviting.

The menu is very creative and fun … plus tasty. The staff is youthful and seems to enjoy what they do.

Apertif:

Rye Sour with lime, honey, caraway and egg white $9

Appetizer:

Grilled local sardine with fire-roasted peppers, fingerlings and oregano $11

This place was interesting for a couple reasons. It was the first time I met any of Chris’ friends—all of them women. Four of them. It wasn’t a fair fight, but they all hugged me in the end, so it went well, I guess, although it could’ve been due to the several bottles of wine consumed.

The other reasons Locanda stands out is because of its menu and friendly, knowledgeable staff. Great food. Great wine. And it features a wood-fired oven, which you have to love. As for the food … never in my life have I had beef tongue tartare. Sounds disgusting, but it was quite good (once you got past the mental image of Clarabelle deep-kissing you).

For a long time the Mission District has had a rather colorful reputation. In terms of food, it’s home to the famous Mission Burrito, which I’ve yet to try for myself (but am told I must). In the past decade or so The Mission has also become known for some truly excellent restaurants. Range is certainly one of them.

Located on Valencia St., Range is a Michelin-starred gem that’s cozy, great for people-watching and does amazing things with ingredients. They can take something as exotic as nettles and turn it into a something you’d lick a plate over. If you’re thinking of going to Range, you’ll need a reservation—and be sure to show up, or else (they take your credit card number and will charge $50 for a no-show).

Located at the corner of Hayes and Gough in the Hayes Valley district of San Francisco, Absinthe is a “must.” Outside the restaurant is some of the best people watching in The City and inside you’ll find an ambiance and a menu that is as close to authentic French bistro as you’re going to find this side of the Seine, according to Chris. The bar area is loud and vibrant; the dining area is moody with dark wood paneling and red velvet booths.

If you aren’t real hungry, Absinthe has a good small-plate selection. Their french onion soup rocks this world. If you like oysters, their raw menu is stellar. The full menu is as out-of-this-world as you’d expect any Michelin-rated restaurant’s to be. If you’re into single malt scotch, the entire back wall is filled with bottles, all of which have names that read like the sound of a Scottish guy clearing his throat.

If you’re a discerning carnivore, put this San Carlos establishment on your To-Chew List. It’s been around since 2006 and it’s hands-down the best steak place I’ve ever tasted. Which, if you consider that I’m from Iowa—a state with perhaps more head of cattle than people—it’s saying a lot.

Some people (Chris included) don’t like Town because it’s usually crowded and rather noisy. But in my opinion Town’s hand-cut steaks are well worth the price and the din for a good dinner. Plus, they have the best beer prices of other restaurants I’ve visited.

This simple, comfortable restaurant located in Palo Alto’s nondescript Town and Country Village shopping center (across El Camino Real from the Stanford campus) serves a menu that can be best described as New American. Mayfield specializes in farm fresh, organic, seasonal and sustainable ingredients from local suppliers (how "California" is that for a description?). Their dishes are prepared in a wood-fired grill or on their signature rotisserie grill.

In addition to their fresh ingredients, Chris and I like Mayfield because the staff remembers you, what wine you like and are extremely friendly. We also like the fact that when you leave Mayfield, they let you take your pick from loaves of fresh bread from their bakery. It’s their tip to you for dining there.

11/03/2011

I get pretty jazzed about cooking. There’s just something satisfying about creating something tasty to share with others and, of course, to eat myself. This trait goes back a long way for me; I actually took a home economics class in high school and on “free cook day” I tried to out-do everyone by broiling a lobster tail, while the other kids labored over snickerdoodle cookies, Rice Krispie treats and the like.

Aside from morning routes schlepping the Des Moines Register, my first real job (at age 14) was working at a surf and turf place called The Drawbridge. It was a quirky place designed to look like a castle inside and out, and the staff were dressed in goofy polyester, faux-feudal garb.

As cheesy as it was, The Drawbridge had a decent menu (well, as decent as Des Moines in the 1970s was going to get). Plus, by working there, I was apt to eat something more appetizing than what my frazzled, culinarily challenged mom or older sisters might throw together. Times were tough back then, and the prospect of eating steak or crab legs was more attractive to me than a paycheck, actually.

I eventually worked my way up to Prep Cook at The Drawbridge. That job didn’t last, but later I did stints in the kitchens of a couple Italian restaurants. (To this day, I’ll hold my marinara sauce up against anyone’s.)

While I love good food, cooking and trying new recipes, I wouldn’t consider myself a “foodie.” I mean, I like food and the creativity that comes with preparing it, but I’m just as satisfied with a good bowl of soup as I am with some elaborate dish. Simple food done well is what gets my mojo salivating, not some pretentious desire to bash a bouillabaisse, demean a demi-glace or poo-poo a pâte fois gras. Honestly, I wouldn’t know how to make those things in the first place.

So, here I am, living in the Bay Area—a food lover’s Shangri-La; a veritable mecca for mastication. Coming here from Iowa was quite the eye--and palate opener--for me.

Des Moines, as you’d probably expect, isn’t exactly known for its fine dining. Sure there are a few gems (Alba, Baru 66, Lucca and Café di Scala being my faves by far), but for the most part restaurants there emphasize quantity over quality. It’s a place where 20-ounce ribeyes or bucket-size servings of starchy potatoes or pasta are typical and to-go boxes a given.

In the Bay Area, restaurants seem to take their food and the dining experience more seriously than elsewhere. Here, it’s about fresh ingredients creatively blended into intriguing, sensibly portioned dishes and presented by knowledgeable professionals performing their chosen careers, rather than filling your belly with over-sized portions served by people merely working for tips. As bad a rap or undeserving a generalization as that may be, the reality is dining out in the Bay Area is a far different and far more interesting experience. I’ve seen it. I’ve tasted it. And, I’m eating it up.

After six months living in the Bay Area I’ve decided to devote a few of my upcoming blog postings to the subject of food and some of the tasty discoveries I’ve made here.

Let’s start with pizza.

As I said, over the years I’ve worked in a couple of Italian restaurants. They were more pizza parlors than restaurants per se, but to this day Scornovacca’s and Orlondo’s remain the standards by which I measure every slice I eat. Which is not to say I’m a pizza aficionado. But when I do eat pizza, I like it simple yet good. And, good to me means a thinnish crust … tangy sauce heavily laden with herbs, including anise … quality ingredients (especially a spicy sausage) … and not globbed with a lot of cheese.

That said, here are a few places with pies worth mentioning:

Goat Hill Pizza

Located at the corner of 18th and Connecticut in The City’s Potrero Hill district. Goat Hill has been a popular neighborhood joint since the mid-1970s. It’s a no-pretense, red-and-white-checkered tablecloths spot that serves delicious, Plain Jane pies on homemade sourdough crusts. Chris and I order the Meat Lovers, which features a tasty trio of salami, peperoni and sausage.

If you go to Goat Hill, get there early, especially on weekends, to avoid the long lines of devotees.

There are three Little Star locations in The City and Chris took me to the one on Valencia St. in the Mission District—a funky, colorful, largely Hispanic neighborhood that’s increasingly home to some of The City’s best restaurants. As its name suggests, this is a fairly tiny place. It’s quaint, it’s funky and it puts out excellent pies – both deep dish and thin crust.

You can build your own pie from a list of basic ingredients ranging from anchovies to roasted zucchini, or you can choose one of their signature pies, such as the Little Star which features fresh spinach, mushrooms, onions, garlic and a ricotta/feta blend.

Like the nearby City Lights Bookstore and Vesuvio Cafe, Tommaso’s is a San Francisco institution. Long the North Beach standard bearer for Neopolitan-style pizza, Tommaso’s has fed a diverse crowd since the Depression Era (when it was known as Lupo’s). It’s cozy (translation: cramped) and no-frills. Long wooden tables. Plastic grapes and muraled walls for decoration. You get the picture.

While the bulk of the menu is rather unimpressive, the pizza is decidedly “old country.” It’s simply tasty and unpretentious without the exotic ingredients common to trendy “pizazz parlors.”

This Oakland eatery is a combination of Zen and zesty. The staff clearly has a special reverence for the ingredients, the customers and the dining experience. Virtually all the ingredients on the menu—which changes daily—are organic and come from Bay Area farmers and ranchers. Their pizzas, pastas and salads are uber-creative with eclectic ingredients, but they can make it work.

This is by no means a complete list. There are plenty of outstanding pizza joints in the Bay Area. One notable spot missing from this list is Zachary’s in Oakland. I didn’t include any of the others in this blog because I haven’t eaten any of their pies. If I do, I’ll let you know about it.